20050711

Beijing and Taipei must talk, US says

DIPLOMACY: The US secretary of state told China that it can't ignore Taiwan's elected government, and added that the US is afraid stability in the Strait is at risk

By Mac William Bishop

STAFF REPORTER , WITH AGENCIES

"We have concerns about ... the Chinese military buildup."－ by Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state

China must talk to the democratically elected government of Taiwan, the US' top diplomat told Chinese leaders yesterday, also warning that Washington took a dim view of Beijing's military policies.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US was encouraged by the recent contact between China and Taiwanese opposition parties, but was also worried about China's military build-up.

"We do think cross-straits [sic] contacts are a good thing. And to the degree that the Chinese government has been engaging in those cross-straits contacts, we think it's good," Rice told reporters after meeting with President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and other Chinese leaders in Beijing.

"We hope that that would extend to contacts with the elected government of Taiwan, because that would be also very good," Rice said.

Leaders from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), People First Party and New Party have visited China in recent months in what they describe as an effort to improve ties.

However, critics have said the meetings were thinly-veiled attempts by Beijing to foster political discord in Taiwan as part of a "divide and conquer" strategy.

Beijing was seeking to isolate and put pressure on President Chen Shui-bian and the Democratic Progressive Party, critics of the meetings said.

Rice also highlighted Washington's uncertainty regarding China's intentions in the Taiwan Strait, saying the US government -- not just the Pentagon -- had concerns about China's military buildup.

She emphasized, however, that that the US did not necessarily view China as a threat.

"There is no doubt that we have concerns about the size and pace of the Chinese military buildup and it's not just the Pentagon," Rice told a news conference after the meeting.

"That does not mean that we view China as, quote-unquote, a threat," she said, adding that the Chinese military buildup raised concerns about the balance of power in the region.

Rice's comments come as the Pentagon works with several other US government agencies on a report about China's growing military clout. The US Department of Defense has no target date in mind for the release of the 2005 annual report, officially required to be delivered to Congress by March 1.

There was speculation it was being delayed until after Rice's trip to China because, in the past, Beijing has objected strongly to its portrayal in such reports as a growing threat to the military balance in Asia.

US defense sources told the Taipei Times that this year's report "will definitely not be welcomed by Beijing." The 2005 report would take a harder line on China than in previous years, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said it welcomed Rice's call for China to talk directly with the government.

"Rice's appeal is in compliance with our basic stance. We have consistently asked the Beijing government not to only contact our opposition parties but to also engage in dialogue with our popularly elected government," MAC Chairman Joseph Wu said.

Noting that Taiwan and China have a very robust economic relationship, Rice said the US encourages "as much contact as possible" between Taiwan and China.

Wu said he welcomes Rice's comments, adding that Beijing should understand that it will only see progress in cross-strait relations through dialogue with the government.

Rice was due to leave China late yesterday for Thailand.

Su urges youth to act for nation and counter China

By Jewel Huang

STAFF REPORTER

Taiwan's younger generation should take every opportunity they get to highlight Taiwan's democratic achievements and put the nation in the limelight on the world stage at a time when China is suppressing Taiwan internationally, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang said yesterday.

"It is the people of Taiwan's hard-won achievement to be able to speak so freely and openly today," Su said.

"Moving from the age of silence on all things political to today's excessive freedom of speech, all of us should always cherish freedom of speech and not abuse it," he said.

Su did not forget to share his experiences on his US trip in his speech to the young people. He said that Taiwan should garner much more exposure and attention in the world by promoting the nation's democratic achievements, since it is Taiwan's advantages that make it different from China and make Beijing's autocrats uncomfortable.

"While the world talks highly of Taiwan's democracy, only China is upset and uneasy about it," Su said.

"To Chinese authorities, the 23 million people of Taiwan have been reminding 1.3 billion Chinese of the sweet fruits of a lifestyle that they cannot enjoy," he said.

"Therefore, China has exerted itself to drown out Taiwan's radiant democracy and suppress the nation's existing space on the world stage," Su said.

To set a clear agenda and operational guidelines on matters related to the national security, the National Security Council -- under the direct order of President Chen Shui-bian -- is drafting a National Security Strategy Report (NSSR).

After a series of internal discussions, the NSSR will encompass five main areas, including economics and finance, humanistic society and the environment, national defense, cross-strait affairs and foreign affairs.

Given both domestic and external constraints, Chen and his national security team must put the emphasis on how they will realistically and pragmatically meet the challenges of world affairs, and outline the best national security strategies for Taiwan in the coming decades.

The NSSR must first define the gravest danger Taiwan faces and clarify strategies and tactics to defend our nation against enemies. The People's Republic of China (PRC) has incorporated military, diplomatic and economic means to threaten Taiwan. No doubt this constitutes the main threat to Taiwan's national security.

Under Chinese President Hu Jintao, Beijing has adopted a multi-dimensional approach that combines "big-state diplomacy" and "neighborhood diplomacy" to simultaneously expand its global influence and downgrade Taiwan's international position.

Nevertheless, the mainstream thinking in the international community -- led by the US -- remains preoccupied with a policy of "con-gagement," a combination of containment and engagement, to develop relations with the PRC.

Taiwan must honestly recognize the reality that most countries are preoccupied with a policy of "con-gagement." What Taiwan needs most is to prioritize its national security policies and work to achieve a balance of power that supports Taiwan's democracy and cross-strait peace.

One way to differentiate Taiwan from China is to resort to the values of democracy that distinguish "democratic Taiwan" from "authoritarian China." Taiwan can also highlight Beijing's unilateral sabotage of regional peace and stability by reaffirming the desire to play a more constructive role in forging peace across the Taiwan Strait and in the Asia-Pacific region.

To broaden its global presence and influence, Taiwan can also redirect attention and resources into a "Pacific Islands diplomacy," based primarily on oceanic or marine ties with countries in the Pacific Ocean.

After the two state visits by Chen to five of Taiwan's diplomatic allies in the South Pacific earlier this year and the successful transit stop in the Republic of Fiji, over half of the countries of the South Pacific showed support for Taiwan's bid for observer status in the World Health Assembly.

The application of the maritime-oriented South Pacific model to Southeast Asia, Europe and Africa would require a tremendous rethinking of the ingrained "continental" mentality of Taiwan's foreign ministry and other concerned agencies inherited from the "greater China" mentality of the former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime.

Such rethinking is long overdue and increasingly urgent, especially as Taiwan's ties in Central America, which have long been the center of Taiwan's diplomatic competition with the PRC, are being eroded by Beijing's use of economic incentives.

A detailed review of the domestic politics of Taiwan's allies in the region is of the utmost importance.

In addition, Taiwan must intensify its efforts to participate in regional organizations.

Those are the central issues that must be realistically and pragmatically addressed in the final version of the NSSR.

`The other implication of the resolution is to remind the government that China's foreign trade policy does not conform with free-market principles. As a result, China should not be treated the same as other democratic countries while assessing international business takeovers.'

The US House of Representatives on June 28 passed a foreign aid amendment bill barring the US Export-Import Bank from approving US$5 billion loans to build four nuclear power plants in China. The lawmakers introducing such a bill said that at the juncture when the US faces financial difficulties, using taxpayer money to assist China's development in this way is not only unreasonable, but dangerous. The sum of US$5 billion is a lot of money, but there is the prospect of supplying more than US$5 billion in equipment and facilities.

By the standards of Taiwan's pro-unification camp, turning down the loan is missing a great opportunity. They would see the situation as isolated from other events and take the attitude that "if I don't sell the goods or provide the loans, others will."

But the US House of Representatives voted a significant 334-114 margin to pass the amendment bill. These US lawmakers are not driven by ideological thinking, but instead take national security and the rights of all Americans as their top priority. It is only Taiwan's pro-unification lawmakers who insist on classifying "love of country" and "love of Taiwan" in completely ideological terms.

US lawmakers are certainly no fools. They, of course, understand that if they refuse China the money, other countries may lend it to them. But the US attitude is that if other countries lend the money to China, that is their business. The US is not only concerned with business opportunities, but safeguarding US interests and national security is more important than benefiting commercial interests.

On June 30, two days after the US House rejected the US$5 billion in foreign aid to China, it overwhelmingly voted 333-92 for an amendment bill and 398-15 for a non-binding resolution to press President George W. Bush to review the China National Offshore Oil Corp's (CNOOC) US$18.5 billion bid to purchase the US' Unocal Corp.

Representative Richard Pombo, a Republican, said that "Such a move may not be consistent with free market principles or in the best interest of US national security." Although this non-binding resolution expressing the House's position cannot compel the action of the US government, it is important for the two following reasons.

First, the resolution shows the US Congress' "concern for the US economy and security." Is it true that the rise of China has threatened the US economy and security? In fact, given the more than 10,000km between the US and China, China cannot have any substantial or immediate impact on the US economy. Besides, US$1.6 trillion of China's GDP is relatively insignificant compared to US$11.7 trillion of the US' GDP. Thus, there is still a long way for China to go if it wants to catch up with the US.

Despite this, US lawmakers still have to take precautions by giving China's potential threat careful thought in order to carry out their duties of supervising the government.

The other implication of the resolution is to remind the government that China's foreign trade policy does not conform with free-market principles. As a result, China should not be treated the same as other democratic countries while assessing international business takeovers. Not long ago, on April 6, the US Senate voted 67-33 to allow a vote on a bill that would impose a 27.5 percent penalty tariff on Chinese imports if China failed to revalue the yuan within six months.

This Senate resolution similarly revealed that the Chinese government has kept its yuan at an artificially low rate, violating free market principles in order to gain an unfair advantage in the world market.

We see that when faced with the threat from other nations, both the US Senate and House can jointly shoulder the responsibility to protect Americans and safeguard the national interest regardless of business interests.

We hope that the Legislative Yuan can emulate the spirit of the US Congress by making national security a top priority when making laws rather than changing their minds constantly because of "goodwill" gestures.

Further, we hope that our lawmakers can soon pass the draft of the sensitive scientific technology protection bill, which would update the National Technology Protection Law, and the arms procurement bill, and make laws to demand the government effectively regulate business investments in China and ban any non-government groups from signing contracts with the Chinese government.

Meanwhile, we call on the Chinese government to revalue the yuan. If they do not, we should follow the US example and pass a law to demand the government take appropriate measures, such as revaluing the NT dollar. If this is done, not only will Taiwan's national security not be compromised, but it might even lead to another wave of Taiwan's economic miracle.